George Annandale on the Reservoir Sedimentation Management: Motivations, Economics, and Options

Dr. George Annandale has been advocating for forward thinking about global water supply for decades...which is more connected to sedimentation processes than you might imagine.  In his book, Quenching the Thirst he makes the case that reservoir sedimentation is one of the major challenges to future water supply and managing sediment at new and existing projects is a critical component of sustainable development.

Dr. Annandale has worked on multiple projects at various scales both as a consultant and for the World Bank, and he developed a popular screening tool to help managers evaluate reservoir sediment management techniques at their projects.   We talked about how reservoir sediment processes impact global water supply, the economics behind these trends, and the options available to reverse these trends.    He also describes some of the work he has done on the Mekong River, including the innovative design of Sambor Dam. 

 George is unquestionably a global leader in reservoir sediment management and was one of its earliest and best know advocates.  This conversation was an excellent way to kick off this season.

See Dr. Annandale 's Books:
Quenching the Thirst
and
Scour Technology 
(which we didn't talk about, but is one of the most important works on rock scour and erosion in the field)

The RESCON software and documenation are here:
https://www.hydropower.org/sediment-management-resources/tool-reservoir-conservation-model-rescon-2-beta

This series was funded by the Regional Sediment Management (RSM) program.

Stanford Gibson (HEC Sediment Specialist) hosts.

Mike Loretto edited the episode and wrote and performed the music.

Video shorts and other bonus content are available at the podcast website:
https://www.hec.usace.army.mil/confluence/rasdocs/rastraining/latest/the-rsm-river-mechanics-podcast

...but most of the supplementary videos are available on the HEC Sediment YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/user/stanfordgibson

If you have guest recommendations or feedback you can reach out to me on LinkedIn or ResearchGate or fill out this recommendation and feedback form: https://forms.gle/wWJLVSEYe7S8Cd248